Death toll passes 23 as Israel hunts down Gaza rockets

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces over the past five days has now risen to 23, bringing the total number killed since the capture of Gilad Shalit to 320.

Now I know that Olmert is already on record stating that Israeli lives are more important than Palestinian lives, but the figure of 320 for one kidnapped soldier - especially as he is still thought to be alive - seems very high. Indeed, it could be argued that the higher the death toll inflicted upon the Palestinian civilian population, the less likely it is that young Mr Shalit will be returned alive, which only serves to make Israel's actions in the Gaza strip all the more bizarre.

The Hamas Government's minister for refugee affairs, Ataf Adwan, said: "We are calling on the international community to curb Israeli crimes against the Palestinians. Israel is killing people to try to make our society collapse. They are attacking and besieging us all because of one soldier. They are punishing every Palestinian, not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank too. They are depriving our people of the essentials for their lives."

Israel's frequent incursions into Gaza have become so commonplace that the world now seems inured to the Palestinian people's sufferings. And the waves of protest that swept the globe when Israel bombarded Lebanon seem to have gone strangely mute faced with the daily humiliations being perpetrated in the Occupied Territories.

Indeed, Israel is now trying to sell it's actions in Gaza as some sort of consequence of their disgraceful campaign in Lebanon as if doing so lends them some moral authority.

Amir Peretz, the Defence Minister, said Israel had learnt the lesson of Lebanon, where it turned a blind eye for years to Hizbollah's weapons build-up. "We will not allow the terrorist organisations to become stronger," he said.

And so, the threat of "terrorism" and the need for "preventative actions" is once again used as an excuse for military force.

This is the natural consequence of Bush's war on a noun, where one can attack - not as a way of defending against an incoming assault - but rather because the attacking force believes their opponents may well have the ability to attack some time in the future.

The rules regarding self defence were enshrined in the United Nations Charter and were based to a large extent on the Caroline case. Since 9-11 Bush claimed a right to anticipatory self defence that went way beyond anything permitted by the UN Charter or anything that could be justified under the rules established after the Caroline case.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Bush's butchered logic is now being used by others as a justification for military adventurism. Indeed, with the US said to entertaining Cheney's notion of the 1% doctrine - where one responds to even a 1% chance that an enemy has a capability as if one is 100% sure of the threat - what we are actually witnessing is a complete breakdown of the rules of war as we have previously understood them.

This has allowed the Israelis to do what they wish with the Palestinians under the guise of fighting "terror" and has allowed the Russians to use whatever methods they fancy when engaged against the Chechnyans.

As long as you can label your opponents "terrorists" then the gloves are off and the world will stand by silently as you dispose of the threat.

I wonder how history will judge this period of madness, and just what will need to happen before we all pull back from this insane precipice.

For instance if Mugabe were to suddenly name white farmers as "terrorists" and start to "deal with them", would we finally admit that simply attaching a label to a group does not justify any action that you choose to take against that group?

Who knows? We are living in a world where the US have chosen to rip up the rule book. Only when Bush is finally pushed from office will we be able to properly survey the carnage he has left behind him, and only then - collectively - can the world begin to pick up the pieces.

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tag: Israel, Palestine, Road Map, Bush, United, States, war on terror, Hamas, Gilad Shalit,